By DUANE SHERRILL Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Voters will have a choice on more than just candidates as early voting will be offered, beginning today, both upstairs and downstairs at the Warren County Administrative Offices on Locust Street. ?Due to the length of the ballot this time we decided to hold early voting…

By LISA HOBBS Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard If things stay unchanged with the new sign ordinance, signs like the ones placed by Aycock Fence Company will not be allowed on fences. According to the current code, the signs are a violation as commercial advertisements are not allowed on fences. After spending weeks arguing…

NASHVILLE (AP) BREDESEN Gov. Phil Bredesen handed out $20 million in grants Thursday as part of the initiative to expand the number of pre-kindergarten classrooms across the state and provide the classes for about 5,000 more 4-year-olds. The grants will be used to open 227 more classrooms statewide, extending the pre-K program to 88 of…

McMinnville resident and Cannon County native Hazel Barnes Adcock, 89, was born Nov. 12, 1916 and died July 10 at River Park Hospital. A homemaker and a sales clerk with Sullivan?s Department Store, she was the daughter of the late James Porter and Mary Jane Espy Barnes. She was married to Acy Adcock who preceded…

Manchester resident Eddie Franklin Adams, 40, died July 11 at his home. The son of Franklin D. Adams and Mary Frances Myers Darland, he was a self-employed auto mechanic and was preceded in death by grandparents, Calvin Myers, Geneva Myers, Lloyd David Adams and Doris Adams. He is survived by children, Nikki Adams of Manchester,…

Altamont resident Donnie W. Fitch, 55, died July 12 at his home. A Bridgestone employee, a U.S. Army veteran and a member of Altamont Church of Christ, he was the son of the late William Harris and Ramonde Bruno Fitch. He is survived by his wife, Ann Johnson Fitch; daughter and son-in-law, Amanda and Andy…

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) They?re promising to keep closer tabs on student lunch trays, pull sugary treats from vending machines and classroom celebrations and encourage more pulse-raising activities during the school day. The nation?s public schools are under orders to adopt nutrition and exercise goals before classes resume in the fall. The written wellness policies…

WASHINGTON (AP) Oil prices hit a new high above $76 a barrel Thursday in a market agitated by escalating violence in the Middle East. The latest surge in oil shook stock-market investors? confidence, though economists said most U.S. consumers and businesses appear to be absorbing higher energy costs surprisingly well. U.S. gasoline demand continues to…

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Bridgestone Firestone has finalized its decision to close the company?s Dayton Tire plant by Dec. 31, company officials said Thursday. The Nashville, Tenn.-based company announced almost three months ago that the Oklahoma City plant, hit hard by overseas competition and shrinking demand, had been racking up millions of dollars in losses and…

Guest Editorial: By Charles C. Haynes For beleaguered school officials, summer brings a welcome break in the escalating culture war over homosexuality in public schools. In the school year that just ended, conflicts over sexual orientation in the curriculum, student clubs or speech codes broke out in record numbers across the nation. And next year…